[Python-Dev] Breaking undocumented API

[Michael Foord]

On 11/11/2010 13:51, Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 8:43 AM, Fred Drake<fdrake at acm.org>  wrote:
> ..
>> Since trace is documented and rx_blank isn't covered, I think it's
>> pretty clear it was never intended as API.  I'd be fine with changing
>> the visibility of rx_blank, and see no need to change its name.
> While I obviously agree with your conclusion, your logic is not
> perfect because trace documentation is *much* younger than the module.
>   How would you apply your reasoning to trace.find_strings()?  It is
> undocumented, its name is misleading, but it is used in the wild
> according to google code search.  I draw the line somewhere between
> trace.rx_blank and trace.find_strings.
I agree. Known / likely usage has to be the determining factor for 
poorly named but undocumented members.

For functions though formal deprecation is easy - so it should only be 
an *issue* for constants. (And there the issue is not whether we can 
remove but how we do it.)

Michael

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